Chapter Four-
RPA Hospital:
Jordan sat next to Heidi's bed, holding her hand. His head was resting on her bed, and his eyes were closed as he tried to catch a few z's before Heidi woke up. Michelle stuck her head in the room.
"Jordan, I'm heading off now with Sam. He'll drop me off at HQ, and I'll finish some paperwork. You happy to stay with Heidi?"
"Yeah Michelle. I'll be right here."
"Ring me when she wakes up, ok?" Jordan nodded. Michelle left the room, only to run into Dean.
"Dean! How's Lachie?"
"He's drowsy, and a little out of it. They're checking him over now, and he'll probably be admitted at least overnight." Michelle nodded.
"How's Heidi?"
"Still out to it. Jordan will stay with her tonight, and he'll keep us updated. Vince will stay in overnight, and he'll be discharged in the morning." Dean shook his head.
"It's been a crazy day today."
"It has. I'll see you tomorrow morning, bright and early." Michelle exited the room, and Dean headed back down to Emergency, where they were trying to stabilise Lachie.
"Babe." Her voice was raspy through the oxygen mask. She squeezed Jordan's hand.
"Hey. How you doing?" She nodded, and then grimaced as a shaft of pain seared through her head.
"What happened?" He rubbed her hand as he relayed back the events of the day.
"Vince had a heart attack, and let go of your safety rope. Your shins hit the handrail, and that caused you to flip around and crack your head on the concrete. You have a concussion, and had a tension pneumothorax whilst we were treating you."
"Now I know why I feel so crap." He nodded.
"Is Vince ok? Please tell me he's alright."
"Yeah Heidi, he's fine. He's upstairs in the cardiac ward."
"Can I see him?"
"You need to stay here and rest Heidi." He brushed back her fringe, and kissed her on the forehead.
"I'll be back in a minute. I've just got to ring Michelle and let her know you're awake." Heidi nodded, regretting the movement almost instantly. He left the room, leaving Heidi to contemplate the day's events.
"Heidi-Ho!" A nurse pushed Vince into the room in a wheelchair.
"Vince! You're ok." He nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine. How are you doing?"
"I'm ok, a little battered and bruised. I've got a corker of a headache though, and my shins feel like they've seen better days. Otherwise, I'm pretty good." Vince looked upset.
"What's wrong Vince?"
"I'm so sorry Heidi. I didn't mean to let go of the rope. I'm so sorry." The tears streamed down Vince's face. Heidi was like a daughter to him, and he felt dreadful over what had happened. Heidi stretched over and took his hand.
"Vince." He looked up at her.
"It's alright. You're safe, I'm safe. That's all that matters." He nodded.
"I just… I feel terrible Heidi."
"Don't be silly Vince. I'll be fine. You need to get better now, so you can take control of us all again." He smiled and looked her in the eyes.
"You get better now Heidi-Ho. We need you back as soon as possible." Jordan came back into the room.
"Hey Vince. How are you going?"
"Good thanks mate. Hearts feeling a little better, and if I have it my way, I'll be leaving this joint tomorrow. Might even have Michelle come pick me up." The same nurse who brought Vince in entered the room, and wheeled him back out. He called back to Heidi and Jordan.
"Although, with the five-star treatment I'm getting in here, I might never leave." Heidi and Jordan could hear him chuckling as he was wheeled down the corridor.
"Michelle says hi, and she hopes you're feeling better soon. I ran into a nurse outside, and she's just told the doctor you're awake. He'll be in to check on you soon."
"Thanks babe." He kissed her hand.
"I was worried about you today. I could have lost you."
"You'll never lose me sweetheart. I'm like gum on a shoe Jordan, I'm hard to get rid of!" They both laughed at that.
The next morning, Michelle drove to RPA hospital to pick up Vince. It was a Tuesday, and she would have asked Sam, but he was in the middle of his HSC, and he needed to be at school.
"Michelle! Get me out of here." She grinned. Vince was back. She signed his papers, and led him out to the car. He jumped into the passenger side, and buckled himself up.
"A little keen are we Vince?"
"I'm just desperate to get out of here, and get back to work." She laughed.
"You're restricted to light duties at the moment Vince. No more rescues for you for a while." He nodded, sombre.
"So how's the rest of my team?"
"Your team? Our team more like." Vince chuckled.
"Yeah yeah. How is everyone?"
"Dean, Lara, Chase and Jordan are all fine. They'll be in this morning."
"What about Lachie?"
"He smashed up one of your patrols yesterday, after finishing the rescue at Drummoyne."
"Is he alright?"
"Just complications from smoke inhalation. They'll release him later today. Heidi won't be released until tomorrow, but if she had it her way, she'd leave now." Michelle giggled as they pulled into HQ. Dean met them outside.
"Vince mate, good to see you back."
"Yeah Deano, couldn't leave you in charge too long, who knows what you would have done to the place!" They laughed. Jordan pulled up in the patrol, Heidi in the passenger seat. Dean called out to her.
"Heidi? What are you doing back? You weren't supposed to be released until tomorrow."
"Yeah, I convinced them I'm fine. Besides, I've got all you guys here. You can watch me if something goes wrong."
"Right then, light duties for you too then Heidi. Sorry." Michelle didn't look apologetic, but she was happy to have Heidi back. Lara popped her head downstairs, freshly pressed Rescue uniform on her.
"Dean, Lachie needs someone to pick him up. Doctors gave him the all clear to leave an hour ago."
"Yeah, righto then."
"Lara? When did you come back?" Heidi felt a little behind on current events.
"Yesterday after I saved Lachie from a car accident. I realised that Rescue is my true family, and I could never leave you guys."
"Aww, a sentimental moment," came Chase's voice from inside the garage.
"Shut-up Chase!" A chorus of voices told him.
"Come on team, back to work." As they clattered up the stairs to the office area, Vince's phone rang. He answered it slightly out of breath.
"Hello?"
"What?"
"Again?"
"Right, we'll be there in ten minutes." He put the phone down, and looked at his team.
"You'll never believe this."
"What?" Asked Lara.
"Same place as yesterday, another explosion. Same girl on the roof, different building. People missing again. You guys head off, and I'll contact Dean and let him know."
"Vince, please let me go." Heidi begged him. The team paused on the stairs.
"Heidi. You know I can't let you go."
"Come on Vince, I'll look out for her." Heidi threw a grateful glance at Jordan, and mouthed her thanks. Vince sighed.
"Alright. Any sign of altered mentals status, you sit her out straight away. You hear me."
"Thanks Vince!" Heidi gave him a quick hug.
"Ok then, Chase and Lara take the last patrol, Heidi and Jordan, take the truck. I'll monitor you guys from here, and organise the firies and the police. Go, get out of here." Michelle appeared from the bathroom.
"What's going on?"
"Explosion, same place as yesterday. This doesn't feel like a coincidence." Michelle nodded.
"I know it's hard Vince, but you need to stay here." Vince sighed.
"I know, but I'm itching to be out there."
"Well, whilst I have you held captive, you can fill out yesterday's incident report." Michelle dumped a stack of forms on his desk. Vince whined.
"Do I have to?"
"You know as well as I do. If I'm not on your back about this you'll never get them done. And Head Office will be the ones breathing down my neck."
Drummoyne:
"Alright, same deal as yesterday." Dean had arrived, Lachie in the patrol with him.
"The main administration has been hit, and we have casualties inside. There's someone on the roof again."
"It's Alice Walker. Same girl as yesterday." Chase sounded shocked.
"Yeah Chase. And we have a student missing again."
"No prizes for guessing who." Heidi muttered.
"Yep. It's Jesse Davis again."
"Vince sent us over a list of people we need to find. Lara, Lachie and Chase, can you get the girl down. Heidi and Jordan, we need to get in and assess the people inside. Almost everybody has been evacuated, and we need to confirm that the list is correct." The two teams nodded, and then split up.
"I have this feeling of déjà vu," said Lachie as he pulled harnesses and ropes out of the car.
"Hey Lara. Shottie not going up there. You can get her down."
"Why? What's the big secret?" The boys sniggered.
"Nothing," they answered in unison. Lara shook her head, and spoke into her radio.
"Rescue Portable Two to Rescue Portable One. Dean, what's the go with this chick up on the roof?"
"She's autistic Lara. The whole exercise is to see if you can convince her to get off the roof. She bit me yesterday, now you can deal with her."
"Dean, that's ridiculous!"
"It's not Lara. Consider it your initiation back into the team." Lara scowled, and let go of her radio.
"How the hell am I supposed to get her down from there?"
"Dunno Lara, but you better get her down. It looks like she's pretty injured," said Lachie, feeding the ropes through, and tightening Lara's harness.
"Ready to go Lara?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." Lara walked up to the wall, and started climbing, Lachie belaying her rope as she went.
Meanwhile in the administration building, Dean, Jordan and Heidi were assessing the situation. Desks were smouldering gently, filing cabinets had been tipped over, and thick smoke filled the room.
"Man, this looks just like yesterday in the graphic design department. What is it with this university and fire?" Jordan asked.
"Dunno, but we need to get them out."
"Agreed."
"Help. Please help me!" A voice came from the back office. Dean raced in to find a woman trapped under her desk, impaled in the leg by a wooden post. Dean slid to the floor.
"I can't get out, please. Help me," she begged. Dean took charge.
"Jordan, we're going to need a saw. We won't take the post out, but we'll have to cut it down to a manageable size before we move her." Jordan dashed out of the room. Dean handed her a green whistle.
"Suck on this. It'll help with the pain for a while."
"Dean, I need some extra oxygen. Can you spare some?"
"Yeah Heidi, what's up?"
"I've got an asthmatic in here. He's trapped under a filing cabinet, and he's struggling to breathe. We can't find his meds in here to help him." Dean spoke to the woman he was attending.
"I'll be back in a second. Don't go anywhere." She nodded. Dean crept out into the outer office, where Heidi was attending another man. He recognised him from yesterday.
"Heidi, this is James McAndrews. He's the director here." He handed her the oxygen tank.
"Rescue Portable One to Rescue Portable Three. Jordan, can you bring a combi-tool and some air-bags?" The radio crackled static.
"Jordan? Do you copy?" Nothing. Silence rent the air.
"Rescue Portable One to Rescue Portable Four, Chase, can you grab us some tools from the patrol? We need a combi-tool and some air-bags."
"Sorry Dean, we're a little pre-occupied at the moment. We've nearly got Alice down. She's pretty banged up." Dean punched the wall.
"Heidi, I need to run out and grab some tools. I'll be back in five minutes."
"Okay Dean. Hurry!" Dean sprinted out to the patrol, cursing Jordan's name as he ran. He grabbed the needed tools from the truck, and flew back inside.
"Alright, let's get Mr McAndrews out and into some fresh air and then we can attend to the woman in the back." Heidi nodded.
"Mr McAndrews, we're going to get you out. It'll be alright." James nodded and coughed through his oxygen mask.
"Dean, hurry up."
"Yeah, I'm getting there Heidi." As they extricated their patient, they heard the other woman moaning in pain.
"Are you right with him Dean?"
"Yeah, I'll get him out. You go and attend her. Take the saw with you, make sure you compress her leg tight." Heidi nodded, and moved into the next room.
"Ma'am, are you alright?"
"Just get me out of here!"
"Sheesh. Okay, I'm working on it." Heidi wrapped a compression bandage above the wound, to restrict the blood flow. She hoisted up the saw, and started to shorten the post. Dean was working in the other room, freeing Mr McAndrews from his position under the filing cabinet. As he got him free and helped him up, someone emerged from the shadows.
"Jesse?" He pulled a knife from his cargo pants.
"I'll take him from here."
"Jesse, whatever's happened, you don't need to do this."
"You don't know anything!" He screamed, waving the knife around.
"Jesse. Calm down.
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Jesse yelled. He lunged forward and grabbed James. Dean punched Jesse in the face. Jesse retaliated, slashing the knife across Dean's arm. The cut was deep, and was bleeding quickly. He compressed it with his arm, sliding down the office wall.
"Don't tell anybody I was here," spat Jesse.
"Or your other rescue boy doesn't survive."
